


Take A Chance On Me

by raendown



Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [43]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-02-01 02:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21338134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: First an explanation. Then a chance. Genma asks so little but offers so much - from his perspective, at least.
Relationships: Shiranui Genma/Yamanaka Ino
Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [43]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533161
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	Take A Chance On Me

“Look,” Ino hissed, checking over one shoulder to make sure no one else was coming down the hall. “I said no. That’s the end of that. No means _no_, Shiranui, or did your mother never explain that to you?”

“And I would take that no if you would just explain it to me! Last week you were all over me, dropping every hint you could just to get a date. Now I finally ask you on one and you turn me down flat like I’m nothing more than dirt on your shoe! Did you mean anything of what you said?” Genma scowled but refused to uncross his arms, refused to fall in to the same trap he always did when temper got the better of him. Apparently he tended towards aggressive body language and escalating the situation was the last thing he needed right now.

He still wanted to scream with frustration when Ino rolled her eyes and growled a little under her breath – but then again that was part of what had drawn him towards her in the first place, her stubbornness and her surety in the path she chose to walk. This was a woman who made her bed and would lie in it with no complaints. 

“You don’t need an explanation,” she snapped.

“Like hell I don’t!”

“All you need is to leave me alone!” Ino made as though to turn away and Genma just barely stopped himself from grabbing her arm. He didn’t want to be that man.

Instead he hurried to step around her, not quite blocking her path but enough in the way that she was forced to pause long enough for him to speak again. “I’m not begging you for a date. You said no, fine. But I can’t just…I can’t take you out of my head like I could rip a page out of a book. You spent all that time trying to catch me and now that I’m caught you don’t want it anymore. Am I really just not worth the effort of keeping?”

He could see that his words had startled her something fierce but he couldn’t see why. Surely she must know what kind of impression she was giving with this cruel catch and release game she had going on. Or maybe he had judged her a little too softly, maybe she just wasn’t who he thought she was.

“That’s- you’re- oh for kami’s sake.” Ino looked away to take a deep breath, avoiding his eyes as she finally gave him the answers he was looking for. “You’ve got a reputation, you know? Fine, you got me, I _am_ interested. But I’m not looking to be the next heart that you leave behind. We both know it’s me that would have to worry about whether or not I’m worth keeping!”

Genma ran a hand through his hair, knocking aside the habitual bandana so he could pull it down and twist it between his fingers. He’d had no idea those sorts of rumors were flying around about him let alone that she would put so much stock in them. On the one hand he was a little hurt that she was willing to believe such things; on the other there was one very good way to help her understand how badly she had been the one to misjudge him. And he had always enjoyed proving people wrong.

“If you give me a chance you won’t regret it,” he promised in a low voice. 

“Why should I?” Ino whispered. He could already see her resolve crumbling, body betraying what her lips were trying to say. She wanted this as badly as he did. Genma dared to lean in a little closer and frame her cheek with one hand, the other tucking his bandana away in a random pocket.

“Because I’ve been waiting for a chance to show you the world for a bit longer than you might think. And darling once I have you I don’t know that I will ever want to let you go.”

For a moment she swayed and he worried that his silver tongue had failed him at last. Then her pretty lips all painted in red turned up in a coy smile. “That is disgustingly cheesy. I hate that it worked. You better have a more impressive line ready for our first date, understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” Genma declared. Then he snuck his other arm around her waist to pull her in close and Ino’s eyes were already closed with anticipation when he bent to ravish her for the very first – but absolutely not the last – time.


End file.
